New, continued unemployment claims in Virginia continue steady decline

Continued unemployment claims dipped slightly in the filing week of Dec. 19, according to a mid-week report from the Virginia Employment Commission.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 67,478, which was a 0.8 percent decrease from the previous week, but 48,041 higher than the 19,437 continued claims from the comparable week last year.

This drop indicated a resumption of its recent declining trend and was more than 80 percent lower than its May 16 filing week peak of 403,557.

The continued claims total is mainly comprised of those recent initial claimants who continued to file for unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the Dec. 19 filing week, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 14,640.

The latest claims figure was an increase of 131 claimants from the previous week.